Tag Archives: patrick stewart

Seventeen years ago, comic book movies were a dead genre. In 2000, the first X-Men movie was released and jump-started a renaissance of adaptations. The franchise succeeded in no small part because the most popular X-Man: Wolverine, was cast to perfection. Hugh Jackman was an unknown. He’d done more musicals on-stage than movies on-screen, but from the moment we saw saw him cage fighting in a bar, he owned the Wolverine in a way that no actor perhaps has ever fully become linked with a fictional character (Bond and Connery and Downey Jr. and Iron Man being the only comparisons I can come up with). Logan is Jackman’s 9th film as Wolverine and his last. The film that bears his name is a nearly perfect Wolverine story. Unlike the PG-13 Logan that had to be leashed for the team films, this is the Wolverine from the comics, and yet, this a Wolverine unlike we’ve ever seen. It’s unremittingly grim, wonderfully acted, violent and gritty, redemptive and tragic. After all, Logan’s was a story that was never going to end well. Continue reading Movie Review: Logan (2017) *Farewell, Hugh, and Thanks”→

Each Thursday we look at what is going to be coming out in theaters this weekend, show you the trailers for the big releases, predict the box office winner and just generally give you enough of a carrot to pull you through the rest of the work week. Week 2 of March Movie Madness only has one major release, but when you’re the size of Kong, one will do. Continue reading In Theaters This Week (3/10/2017): Kong Skull Island→

Each Thursday we look at what is going to be coming out in theaters this weekend, show you the trailers for the big releases, predict the box office winner and just generally give you enough of a carrot to pull you through the rest of the work week. March 3rd begins the biggest blockbuster loaded March in movie history with a huge film opening every week the next five weeks. Three movies open wide, but Hugh Jackman’s final bow as Wolverine make Logan the first titan of March. Continue reading In Theaters This Week (3/3/2017): Logan, The Shack, Before I Fall→

Logan, the third Wolverine solo film, will be the ninth and final appearance by Hugh Jackman as the most popular X-Man. No one, not even Chris Reeve as Superman or Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark has completely and totally owned a superhero like Jackman has from the very first seconds we saw him cage fighting in X-Men. Seventeen years later, his journey with the character will end, we’ll see the heir to Logan’s mantle, and also bid goodbye to Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. This doesn’t feel like a super hero movie (and I mean that in the best way), it feels like an old gunslinger’s last hurrah, and set to Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” (one of my three favorite songs), I got a little misty. No one will ever fill Hugh’s shoes, even though one day they’ll cast another person as Logan, he has a choke hold on this role forever. Continue reading Trailer Time: Logan Trailer #1 (2017) *Jackman Pops the Claws One Last Time*→

Last week, in my weekly “My Favorite Scene” column, I talked about my favorite scene from X-Men: First Class: The Point Between Rage and Serenity. It’s one of my favorite Xavier/Magneto scenes. Then I started to think how many iconic scenes there have been through the seven films that have contained Professor X and Magneto, and thought a top 5 list was in order.

It seemed almost impossible that suitable matches could be found to carry the torch for Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan after they made those characters theirs starting in the second scene in the first film. However, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender have proven to be every bit their equal, and have had better, meatier parts of the Xavier/Magneto relationship to work with as they chart their friendship and the schism between them that would divide mutants. Quite frankly, you could make the whole list out of chess matches, but I tried to spread them out. Here are my five favorite (plus the scene I already wrote about, which you can see by clicking the link above).